You may have heard: Old industry carmakers are going all-in on electric vehicles (EV).
Per CNBC:
- GM plans to spend $27B on EV models through 2025 (and wants to be all EV by 2035)
- Ford is dropping a cool $22B on EVs and is aiming for a 40% plug-in fleet by 2030
Among the most-affected groups by this green auto shift:
Thousands of franchise auto dealers across America
Ford has ~3k while GM has ~4k… and these shops are bracing for a few huge changes:
- Less service revenue: EVs have fewer parts than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and don’t require oil changes or transmission repairs. Per CNBC, servicing of ICE cars makes up 50% of a dealer’s gross profit, which is a big hit.
- Pricey green certification: Auto dealers will also have to retrain their staff and upgrade their facilities for EV sales. Costs to do so can run from $50k to $300k+.
- D2C sales: EV leader Tesla does all sales online. And while auto dealers have websites, their core business remains the classic in-person question: “What brings you to our lot today?”
While <3% of US new car sales are currently EV…
… the shift away from oil is inevitable. A Bloomberg report projects EVs to account for 58% of all new global passenger vehicle sales by 2040.
Auto dealers are already adapting to the shift, with 2.3k Ford dealers in the US already plunking down $50k to be EV-certified.
But, really, nothing says inevitable like the frunk space in the Ford’s electric truck (F-150 Lightning)… that’s bottomless space for BBQ equipment.
Topics:
Vehicles
